Tapan Patel, M.D., Ph.D., a second-year resident, is developing a portable, smartphone-based device for taking fundus photographs of the eyes of young children. Guided by his research mentors, Kellogg professor Yannis Paulus, M.D. and third-year resident Tyson Kim, M.D., Ph.D., Dr. Patel has already adapted a novel mobile ophthalmoscope, called CellScope Retina, that uses a smartphone’s camera, Bluetooth connectivity and computational abilities to perform multi-image acquisition and wide-field montaging of the retina.
Lev Prasov, M.D., Ph.D., a third-year resident, is studying the genetics of nanophthalmos, a condition in which the eyes are abnormally small. Patients with nanophthalmos have high hyperopic refractive errors and are prone to a form of sight-threatening glaucoma. Dr. Prasov is studying a new gene mutation that he and Kellogg professor and geneticist Julia Richards, Ph.D., identified. He hopes to gain insights into the mechanisms that cause common refractive errors.